Conveyors



Aug. 23, 1966 E. SHEEHAN, SR 3,257,873

CONVEYORS Filed April 13, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

JOSEPH E. JHQE'H/f/V, are,

x9 TTORNE) CONVEYORS Filed April 13, 1964 lllll-llllllll INVENTOR.

JOSEPH E. Jl/EE/MM 5p.

g- 23, 1966 J. E. SHEEHAN, SR 3,267,373

CONVEYORS Filed April 13, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 IN V EN TOR.

JOSEPH 5. SHEEH/I/V, 5R.

4% ATTOfif/EW United States Patent 3,267,873 CONVEYORS Joseph E. Sheehan, Sn, Flint, Mich, assignor to Mary Ann Sheehan, Detroit, Mich. Filed Apr. 13, I964, Ser. No. 359,165 22 Claims. (Cl. 10493) This invention relates to improvements in conveyor systems, and particularly to such systems as are designed for coordination between a conveyor track and a track follower to control the attitude of such follower or its angular position relative to any central axis, or any combination of central axes, as hereinafter explained.

An object of the invention is to provide said track follower with supporting elements moving upon the track, and with attitude control elements effective to maintain or to alter the attitude of the track follower.

A further object is to provide for retraction of said attitude control elements to neutral positions and the extension thereof to effective positions.

Still another object is to provide for the partial retraction of said control elements within the track follower in the neutral position of said elements.

Still another object is to provide a shaft extending from the track follower and to provide a carrier member secured to the shaft to carry a load.

A further object is to secure the carrier member to the shaft for reciprocable movement thereon to desired predetermined positions for loading and unloading.

Another object is to provide supplementary carrier members, secured to said first mentioned carrier member and movable thereon individually to desired, predetermined load carrying positions.

Another object is to provide a drive medium to move the track follower along the track.

Still another object is to provide said drive medium in endless form to follow a path normally parallel with the track, and having areas of divergency and convergency with the track, and to adapt said areas to disengage and engage said drive and said track followers.

These and various other objects are attained by the construction hereinafter described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a vertical, partial, sectional view transverse to the direction of travel, as taken on line 1-1 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a vertical, partial, sectional view on line 22 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a vertical, partial, sectional view constituting a downward extension of FIG. 2, and illustrating the carrier member and supplementary carrier members.

FIG. 4 is a vertical, fragmentary, sectional view on line 44 of FIG. 1, showing said supporting elements.

FIG. 5 is a vertical, partial, sectional view on line 5-5 of FIG. 1, showing the attitude control elements in detail.

FIG. 6 is a vertical, partial, sectional view on line 66 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 7 is a partial, horizontal, sectional view on line 7-7 of FIG. 1 showing a trolley employed as hereinafter described.

FIG. 8 is a horizontal, partial, sectional view on line 8-8 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 9 is a partial, horizontal, view illustrating use of attitude control elements to effect travel about a 90 turn of the track while maintaining the attitude of the track followers.

FIG. 10 is a partial, horizontal view illustrating use of attitude control elements to effect travel about a 90 turn of the track while changing the attitude of the track follower about its vertical axis a corresponding 90.

In these views the reference character 1 designates a hollow first track having slotted openings 1a and 1b ex- 3,267,873 Patented August 23, 1966 tending longitudinally of the track. A requisite number of hangers 2 supports the track 1 at a desired elevation. Said hangers are dependent from an I-beam 3, which may itself be suspended in any suitable manner (not shown).

' The lower flange 4 of the I-beam serves as a second track for a trolley 5. The trolley is formed with spaced, substantially parallel, vertical flanges 6 which mount shafts 7 which revolubly carry wheels 8. The wheels 8, as best seen in FIG. 6, are varied in their spacing from the respective flanges 6.

Thus asymmetrically spacing the wheels 8 affords forming the ramps 77 in pairs to have a spaced relationship longitudinally of the I-beam 3, as shown in FIG. 2. Said ramps, so spaced, receive both the leading pair of 'wheels 8 and the trailing pair of said wheels 8 simultaneously to allow the trolley 5 to remain horizontal as it is rolled upwardly. If the wheels 8 were all similarly disposed, the ramps 77 would have to be a single pair extending laterally the full width of the lower flange 4 on each side of the web of said I-beam 3. Then the leading pair of wheels 8 would initiate their ascent of the ramp 77 before the trailing pair of wheels 8. This would tilt the trolley 5 at an angle, and, as the universal joint 23 would not yet be withdrawn from the body 22 of the trackfollower 21, the entire construction of the trackfollower and shafts 20, 24, would also tend to tilt, thus imposing extreme stain on said shaft 20.

The lower portion 9 of the trolley is formed with a laterally extending T-slot 10 which receives and affords travel to a smaller trolley 11. The latter trolley surmounts a shaft 12, which is engageable by a link of a drive chain 13 which itself is driven by any conventional power source (not shown). It is contemplated that the path of the chain travel will approximately parallel that of the trolley 5 and the below described track-follower 21 with certain divergences hereinafter described and explained.

To the lower end of the shaft 12 is mounted a connector having a hollow body 14 opening laterally at each side. Said connector is formed with a T-slot 15 in wall 16 which normally would be the leading Wall. A bottom wall 17 is also formed with a T-slot 18. Said connector transmits the drive from said chain 13 to a wheel 19 surmounting a shaft 20 of square or rectangular cross-sec tion. Said shaft 20 is received in the body 22 of the track-follower 21 and transmits the drive thereto. A universal joint 23 joins the shaft 20 with a lower section 24 thereof, and as will be seen subsequently, the shafts 20, 24 have reciprocable sliding travel in the body 21.

Said body 22, as illustrated, takes the form of a cube, though other multi-faceted geometric forms may be used. Mounted revolubly on each face of the cube is a plate 25 provided with ball bearings 26. Wheeled supports 27 are received in the plate 25 for rotative movement about axis transverse to their axes of rotation, so that they may function like casters. Spring loaded balls 28. 29 or the like. resist undesired rotation of the plate 25.

' First and second attitude control elements 30 and 31, are received on each face of the body 22. As clearly seen in FIG. 5, said controls comprise wheels 32 having balls 33 revolubly mounted at the rotative axes of said wheels. Shafts 34, 35, being of different lengths, govern the effective positions of the control elements, whereas, holes 36, 37 in said body 22, receive said shafts to afford uniform retracted positions of the wheels, relative to said body. Nuts 38 are threadedly received on the interior end portions of the shafts and prevent the escape of said shafts by bearing against a stationary plate 39 secured as by screws 39a to each face of the body 21. Springs 40 yieldably urge the shafts outwardly of the holes 36, 37, while the normal track surfaces as portrayed in FIG. 1, tend to maintain the retracted position of the shafts.

3 When the surfaces of the track are deviantly formed, as shown in 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, in FIG. 6, the shafts 34, 35 are outwardly urged by the springs 40 to place the wheels 32 in their respective extended positions.

The four side faces of the track-follower are also adapted to carry third attitude control elements 46. As seen in FIG. 2, these latter elements are provided with shafts 47, outwardly terminally fitted with revoluble wheels 48. Such wheels axially bear a revoluble ball 49 which, like the aforementioned balls 33, serve to minimize friction between the wheels and track surfaces en gaged by the balls.

The inner end portion of the shafts 47 are slidably received in trolleys 50 which have reciprocal travel grooves 51 formed in the fixed plates 39. Slots 52 in the plates admit said shafts 47 to said grooves and afford them travel with the trolleys. A shallow elongated recess 53 is formed in the faces of the track-follower body 21 to approximately coincide with said grooves 51. Wear plates 54 are received in said recesses and retained therein as by screws (not shown) penetrating the body of the track follower.

Each said wear plate is formed with an elongated slot to allow the respective shaft 47 to be slidably retracted through the trolley within a hole 55 formed in the trackfollower body 21; A spring 56 is received in each hole 55 and reacts against a cap 57, which bears against the inner end face of the shaft 47 to yieldably urge said shafts outwardly. As in the case of the first and second attitude controls, the contour of the track surface determines whether the third attitude control is in an effective position as shown in FIG. 6, or a neutral position as shown in FIG. 1. The caps 57 engage against the wear plates 54 and resist escape of the springs 56 when the trolleys have moved so that the shafts 47 are not directly registered with the holes 55. Nuts 47a resist escape of said shafts outwardly from the bodies of said trolleys 50. When the load carried is not too heavy, the control elements alone can support the trackfollower either by the laterally extended elements as seen in FIG. 6, or by retraction of the bottom elements as seen in FIG. 1, or by use of bottom elements. In such case the wheeled supports may be omitted.

The upper and lower faces of the track-follower also bear upper and lower attitude controls, but due to the upper slot 1a and lower slot 1b in the first track 1, the construction of said upper and lower control elements differs from the third attitude control elements just described. The major component is a block 58, circular in cross-section and slotted at 59 as clearly shown in FIGS. 6 and 8. FIGS. 2, 6, and 8 illustrate the application of wheels 60 to a portion 61 of the blocks which portion is reduced in diameter and formed to have flat, opposite parallel faces. Grooves 62 afford a runway for said wheels, while slots 63 afford corresponding movement of said reduced portion 61. From the drawings it will be clear that the sections of shaft 20, 24 pass through the slotted blocks 58, and that said blocks, unlike the aforesaid third attitude control elements, have no move ment to or from the track-follower body 21.

FIG. 9 depicts an employment of upper and lower attitude controls to direct the track follower through a 90 turn in its travel while maintaining the attitude of the track-follower body 22. That is, the face 64, which is leading as the unit approaches the turn becomes parallel to the direction of travel, while face 65 becomes the leading face when the turn is completed. This is accomplished by'uniformly diverging the path of the upper and lower track surfaces 41, 45, from the paths they would normally follow, so that the first and second attitude control elements maintain the attitude of the track-follower as they progress around the turn.

Where weight, size, bulk, and other factors and circumstances permit, the lower track surfaces 41, 45 may be diverged as aforesaid to maintain the desired attitude of the track follower, while the upper track surfaces 41, 45, are diverged merely to allow clearance for the upper first and second attitude controls; on occasion said upper track surfaces may be diverged to exert such control while the lower said surfaces afford clearance.

In said illustration shown in FIG. 9, it should be noted that one of each of the first and second attitude controls lose contact with the track surfaces 41, 45 while the track follower makes the turn. Said controls are designated 30x and 31x (only in FIG. 9) for identification. At the point in its travel as shownin FIG. 9, the track follower could rotate freely in either direction due to the distance between track surfaces 41, 45 at this point.

Before the track follower reaches that said point, it could rotate in a counter clockwise direction, and after it passes said point, it could rotate in a clockwise direction. To avert such rotation when undesired, one or both blocks 58 may be moved slightly off center, by appropriate deviation of the edges of slots 1a, 1b such deviation being calculated, of course, to resist said rotation, but not to cause any rotation, as is the case shown in FIG. 10.

FIG. 10 illustrates employment of the attitude control elements to rotate the track-follower 90 about a vertical axis as it negotiates a 90 turn. Here the upper and lower slots 1a and 1b are also shown diverged from their normal path of travel, and thus will have the effect of drawing the blocks 58 rearwardly on their wheels in the aforesaid grooves 62. This places the 'blocks in a position to exert a laterally directed force to rotate the track-follower body about the axis of the shafts 20, 24. Here the track surfaces 41, 45 may be contoured to cause the first and second attitude control elements on the upper and lower faces of the block 21 to cooperate with said blocks 58 in accomplishing the described maneuver.

It may be undesirable in the turn shown in FIG. 9, and described above, to have the wheeled supports 27, run off the lower surface of the first track as they cross the lower slot. This is particularly undesirable where extremely heavy loads are being carried and the support afforded by all four wheels 27 is requisite. As FIG. 4 shows, the wheels function in the manner of casters, and as FIG. 6 shows, the track surfaces may be convoluted as at 66 to affect the position and direction of travel of the Wheeled supports.

Thus, by appropriate formation of such convolutions, as the track-follower maneuvers the 90 turn, as in FIG. 9, the wheeled supports, following said convolutions will effect 90 rotation of the upper and lower plates 25, even though the body 21 maintains its attitude. Such rotation of the plate keeps all four of the bottom, wheeled supports securely upon the track surface at all times dur ing the turn. Obviously, given proper circumstances, the plates 25 need not be made to rotate.

Referring now particularly to the carrier, the lower end portion of the shaft section 24 extends below the lower attitude control block 58, and terminally supports a linkage 67. Said linkage in turn suspends a cross-member 68 surmounting a shaft 69. The lower end portion of said shaft carries a trolley 70, which is received in an elongated track 71 enclosed by the walls of a first carrier 72. Such carrier has rectilinear reciprocable travel on the trolley so that it may be disposed in any desired position thereon for carriage of materials or workpieces.

The lower wall of the first carrier receives a plurality of stub shafts 73, which are fixed thereto in any convenient manner. Each such stub shaft mounts a trolley 74, and each trolley is received in an elongated track 75 enclosed by the walls of a supplementary carrier. Each such carrier has independent, rectilinear, reciprocable travel upon its respective trolley, whereby said supplementary carriers may be disposed in any positions, or combination of positions as is best suited to carry any particular load. Too, if an installation of the device so affords, the supplementary carriers may be disposed in groups so that one group may pick up a load, while the other deposits a load.

A degree of vertical lift of the carriers relative to the track-follower may be afforded by forming the I-beam track 3 with ramps 77 which carry the trolley 5 to a higher level, though no corresponding elevation occurs in the first track 1. Such ramps are shown in FIG. 2 with a dash line position of the trolley on the incline: however, the effect of the described construction is best shown in FIG. 6. Here, it will be observed, the shafts 20, 24 have been drawn upwardly through the body 21 of the track follower 22 to withdraw the universal joint 23 from said body and afford it an action within the slot 59 of the upper block 58. A cover plate 7 8 is somewhat raised, as a consequence, from its normal position atop said block 58. If desired, the universal joint 23 may be withdrawn entirely from the block 58, to afford universal action thereof.

The above described device is believed to possess a versatility unparalleled in the prior art, in that it can be made to alter the attitude of a carried object as it turns corners, or to maintain a desired attitude, such attitude in either case corresponding to that of the trackfollower. This advantage it is believed is especially valuable in such fields as the assembly of automobiles and other complex objects and machinery.

When the spacing between the trolley 5 and the track follower is increased by running the trolley up ramps 77, the universal joint 23 is freed from the body 22 of the track follower, as aforesaid. In this condition the versatility of the construction in establishing and maintaining attitudes about combinations of axis is greatly increased.

In FIG. 1, for example, the hanger 2 could be designed to support the track 1 canted in a position angularly divergent about the longitudinal axis of said track from the position shown. That is, the upper and lower walls, and the sidewalls of the track, though remaining rectangular in cross sectional relation, would not be, respectively, horizontal and vertical.

Further, the fact that control elements 30 and the track follower to revolve about the lateral central axis of the track follower. Such revolution would be resisted by attitude control elements 31, which engage upon upper and lower track surfaces 42. Consequently the latter track surfaces would have to be uniformly deviated from their normal path outwardly from a plane bisecting the track follower.

As stated above, the universal joint would have to be withdrawn to allow the change of attitude thus effected. The revolution described above would occur about an axis centrally extending laterally through the track follower and transverse to the direction of travel. Such revolved attitude could be modified further by running the construction along a track canted as above described.

What I claim is:

1. .A conveyor system including (a) a first track,

(b) a track follower having a first path of travel along said track,

(c) drive means to impel said track follower in said travel,

(d) a load carrier transported by the track follower,

(e) one or more attitude control elements mounted on the track follower, and engageable with surfaces of the track to support said track follower in said travel,

(f) said track having a normal running surface on which said supports are engaged, and also having (g) deviant surfaces formed at predetermined intervals along the path of travel, the deviation of said latter surfaces inducing a desired change in attitude of the track follower when said control elements encounter said deviant surfaces.

2. In a conveyor system as set forth in claim 1,

said attitude control elements (e) having reciprocable movement on the track follower between neutral positions, and effective positions to alter the attitude of the track follower, and

said deviant surfaces (g) affording movement of one or more attitude control elements to said effective positions to effect said change in attitude.

3. In a conveyor system as set forth in claim 2,

(i) means yieldably resisting movement of the mounting means to one said position and urging such movement to the other said position.

4. In a conveyor system as set forth in claim 1,

(h) mounting means for said attitude control elements (e), said mounting means being retractable toward the track follower (b) to move said control elements to said neutral position, and extensible from the track follower to move said control elements to said effective positions.

5. In a conveyor system as set forth in claim 4, said mounting means (h) being retractable within the track follower, and said track follower being formed with (j) apertures respectively receiving the respective mounting means (h).

6. A conveyor system as set forth in claim 4, said mounting means (h) being extensible to establish respective attitude control elements in effective positions spaced varyingly from the track follower (b), to afford greater stability to the track follower as said attitude is altered.

7. In a conveyor system as set forth in claim 6,

one or more supports mounted on said track follower and engageable with the surfaces of said track to afiord added support to said track follower in said travel.

8. In a conveyor system as set forth in claim 1, said track being continuous and being formed with (k) a continuous opening in a surface thereof said load carrier (d) including (1) a shaft projecting from the track follower through said opening,

(m) a carrier member,

(n) means mounting the carrier member on the shaft to afford reciprocable movement of the carrier member upon the shaft to desired carrying positions.

9. In a conveyor system as set forth in claim 8 (0) one or more supplementary carrier members, mounted upon said first mentioned carrier member (p) means mounting said supplementary carrier members for independent reciprocable movement thereon to desired loading or unloading positions, and

(q) means engageable with said carrier members to effect said movement to said desired positions,

whereby respective individual supplementary carrier members may be so disposed as to afford loading one or more said carrier members while simultaneously unloading one or more said carrier members.

(r) means to yieldably resist undesired relative move- 10. In a conveyor system as set forth in claim 9,

ment of the first mentioned carrier member (In) and the supplementary carrier members (0).

11. In a conveyor system as set forth in claim 9, supplementary carrier member being elongated, formed with (t) an interiorly elongated slot, said mounting means (1 being (u) flanged heads projecting from said first mentioned carrier member (In), and respectively movable in respective slots.

12. In a conveyor system as set forth in claim 8, said first mentioned carrier member being elongated and formed with (s) an interiorly elongated slot,

said mounting means (n) being a flanged head formed on the shaft (1) to move in said slot.

each and 13. In a conveyor system as set forth in claim 1, said drive means (c) including (v) an endless drive medium travelling in a second path having areas laterally converging toward and diverging from the first track,

(w) a shaft projecting from the track follower and transmitting a drive to the track follower, and

(x) a connector engaged by and driven by the drive medium, a portion of the connector being releasably interengageable with a portion of the shaft (w) to impart a drive to said shaft,

said portions being adapted to engage when said drive medium converges in its path of travel toward said first mentioned path of travel and to disengage and terminate the drive to the track follower when said endless drive medium diverges in its path of travel from said first mentioned path of travel.

14. In a conveyor system as set forth in claim 13, said shaft (w) projecting through the track follower and having limited reciprocable sliding travel therein longitudinally of the shaft, responsive to the trolley position on 'said ramps, whereby said load carrier is raised or lowered.

15. In a conveyor system as set forth in claim 13,

(y) a second track extending substantially parallel with the first track, and having areas laterally converging toward and diverging from the first track,

(2) a trolley movable along said second track and releaseably engageable with the connector to receive a drive from the connector, and

(aa) ramps in the track surface of the second track, at predetermined intervals thereof,

said trolley rolling up or down said ramps to raise or lower the load carrier.

16. In a conveyor system as set forth in claim 15, said shaft (w) being formed of two sections,

(bb) a universal joint joining said two sections, said joint normally being inoperatively housed within the track follower and being withdrawn therefrom, when the load carrier is raised, to afford an angular relationship between said two sections of said shaft.

17. In a conveyor system as set forth in claim 1,

(y) a second track extending substantially parallel with the first track, and having areas laterally converging toward and diverging from the first track, (2) a trolley movable along said second track and releasably engageable with the connector to receive a drive from the connector, and

(aa) ramps in the track surface of the second track,

at predetermined intervals thereof, said trolley rolling up or down said ramps to raise or lower the load carrier.

5 18. In a conveyor system as set forth in claim 17, said shaft (w) projecting through the track follower and having limited reciprocable sliding travel therein longitudinally of the shaft, responsive to the trolley position on said ramps, whereby said load carrier is raised or lowered.

19. In a conveyor system as set forth in claim 18,

(bb) a universal joint joining said two sections said joint normally being inoperatively housed within the track follower and being withdrawn therefrom, when the load carrier is raised, to afford an angular relationship between said two sections of said shaft.

20. A conveyor system including:

(a) a track,

(b) a first trolley suspended for travel along said track,

(c) a suspension member to suspend a load,

(d) a connector having a releasable interconnection between said first trolley and said member, to transmit a drive thereto,

(e) a drive medium driving said connector along a path normally parallel to said track and having areas of lateral divergence from and convergence toward said track to release or establish said interconnection.

21. A conveyor system as set forth in claim 20, said first trolley being formed with a runway eXtending laterally thereof, and said connector including means releasably engageable for travel along said runway, responsive to travel of said drive medium through said areas.

22. A conveyor system as set forth in claim 21, said connector downwardly terminating in (f) hollow body, open on each side extending trans- 35 versely of said track and having a bottom wall,

(g) a slot formed in said bottom wall, said suspension element including a shaft receivable in said slot, (h) a head surmounting said shaft, and having greater dimensions than said shaft, said head being received in said body and resisting downward withdrawal of said suspension element from said body.

No references cited.

ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

MILTON BUCHLER, Examiner.

F. W. MONAGHAN, R. A. BERTSCH,

Assistant Examiners. 

1. A CONVEYOR SYSTEM INCLUDING (A) A FIRST TRACK, (B) A TRACK FOLLOWER HAVING A FIRST PATH OF TRAVEL ALONG SAID TRACK, (C) DRIVE MEANS TO IMPEL SAID TRACK FOLLOWER IN SAID TRAVEL, (D) A LOAD CARRIER TRANSPORTED BY THE TRACK FOLLOWER (E) ONE OR MORE ATTITUDE CONTROL ELEMENTS MOUNTED ON THE TACK FOLLOWER, AND ENGAGEABLE WITH SURFACES OF THE TRACK TO SUPPORT SAID TRACK FOLLOWER IN SAID TRAVEL, (F) SAID TRACK HAVING A NORMAL RUNNING SURFACE ON WHICH SAID SUPPORTS ARE ENGAGED, AND ALSO HAVING (G) DEVIANT SURFACES FORMED AT PREDETERMINED INTERVALS ALONG THE PATH OF TRAVEL, THE DEVIATION OF SAID LATTER SURFACES INDUCING A DESIRED CHANGE IN ATTITUDE OF THE TRACK FOLLOWER WHEN SAID CONTROL ELEMENTS ENCOUNTER SAID DEVIANT SURFACES. 